Wow! This memorable picture, taken in 1984, was sent to me by my friend and colleague, Abdusalam Sani.
Skelo, his nickname, and I were then teachers at Government Day Secondary School, Tsiga, Katsina State.
To my right was late Hassan Maikaka, younger brother to the then Principal of the school, Mu'azu Maikaka. To Skelo's left was a youth corper serving in the school, Omeike, dressed in Hausa gown. He was from Niger Delta and was serving with one Ibo guy called Donatus. I wonder where they are now, and I can't remember their second names.
Skelo and I became very good friends and neighbors. His house was just behind mine in the staff quarters. We used to go to the market together, cook together and eat together, shared James Hadley Chase books together and generally used to joke and tease each other a lot.
One joke often irritated me but I never showed or told him I was irritated till recently: my cooking stove, when lighted, used to take a while to catch on, so whenever he came to the house and saw me cooking, he would look at the stove sneeringly and say, "Ten minutes to the time". I would grimace, but underneath I was seething with rage... 🤣🤣🤣
Another joke he cracked but which I found funny, was when we went to the local market on market days to buy groceries. I had a distant relative, who used to sell miscellaneous items that were inexpensive. And Skelo observed that the whole items did not cost more than "three bucks", to quote him, and was wondering how the old man survived on that.
Life was so simple and beautiful then and we really enjoyed ourselves. We're still in touch and are still friends with Skelo. We chatted even this morning on WhatsApp and cracked the usual jokes...🤣🤣🤣